waxing specialist

studio manager

esthetician

general manager

salon manager

Waxing the City

The company and corporate are a pleasure to work with and the training that they offer is life-changing!  The biggest disappointment is having owners that have no experience in this field and do not have cosmetologist or esthetic licenses.  This is a huge problem because they have no idea what we go through on a daily basis.  The owners of our studio were great for the first 6 months I worked there.  I truly loved my job!  There was an incident that broke my trust with them, and instead of trying to resolve problems between our team they would pit us against each other which caused a lot of division between us.  The owners would come to all of us with problems of other teammates which was unprofessional.  They did not know how to handle and care for their employees which led to high turnover.  The clients were very unhappy when we kept hiring new people and there was inconsistency in their services.  The owners pressured us into doing 30 minute Brazilians with new clients who had never waxed and had a lot of hair.  It was almost impossible to do it in that amount of time for new clients, which in turn made us late for our next client because they would not extend the time to 45 minutes.  We tried countless times to talk with them and they acted like they took our ideas into consideration but never put them into action.  We always argued about breaks and lunches.  We would be there for hours before we could even sit down and eat something because most of us would be completely booked with clients.  For a 6 hour shift that’s less miserable, but really awful on a 8-10 hour day.  The hard labor of standing, bending over all day, and dealing with clients without food or time to sit was ridiculous.  They would listen to our conversations and record them on the studio phone and yell at us if we didn’t say something to their standards.  They said it was a “training tool”.  They did not let the clients know of the recordings either.  Also vacation time was always an issue.  I also understand about working around the holidays, BUT it is stupid to only give us 14 days off.  These days are also unpaid.  If I am not getting paid I should be able to take vacation whenever if I am notifying you with enough time.  I am so disappointed that corporate has been blind to some of these owners that treat their employees poorly.  It really is a shame because I love Waxing The City, the training, and the whole idea of having a place that offers less painful waxing, but they need to do a better job with giving the owners a complete understanding of what this industry is like.

WTC lacks consistency, doesn't appreciate their employees, hires managers based off wax/retail performance vs. actual managerial skills. In the 2 years I worked for this company, I have seen 4 managers just at the studio I was in, if that doesn't already tell you enough. WTC has a tendency to turn every situation into a "positive" out look, however, it's really manipulation to switch your thought process to their own will. While they can be right on occasion, in my work experience (along with many others) we leave awaiting for the next work day wondering how the day is going to go, walking on eggshells just trying to stay out the way of being talked down too, or in a passive aggressive manner. Telling us that we are not doing good enough, even though our numbers shine through and we already are doing what we can with unrealistic goals they set.
The easiest and best part of my day at WTC is being in my room with my clients having wonderful conversation, and making my clients feel clean, happy, and confident. 
The worst part of my day at WTC is the constant feeling of being watched just waiting for one mistake to be made so they can drill into me about it.
I find that highly unnecessary. Waxing the City is the most toxic company I have ever worked for, no one should ever have to work for a company to be stripped entirely of your mental and emotional state. Especially when you already go the extra mile for them to take care of things. 
And the thing is about all this, is clients notice shifts in the energy. While we have had great work days with laughs and what not. The bad days definitely out weighed the good ones unfortunately. Clients have asked questions about the shift in energy going on, which they should never ever have too! Why? Because the service is about them, they shouldn't have to wonder if their cerologist is ok in a work setting.  
Myself and other employees have tried to do our best or even out do the task we are given just for it to be thrown back in our faces. Manipulated to think that something they did to upset us was actually for a good cause or that it's not as bad as it appears, when really it is.

This was by far the most toxic, passive-aggressive, condescending, and micromanaged workplace I’ve ever experienced—with the lowest pay I’ve ever made in my entire life. The studio stays consistently slow, and it’s common to take home less than $2,000 a month, regardless of availability. Instead of addressing the lack of traffic, leadership pressures staff to push memberships and add-ons to make up for it.

 The culture is performative—not efficient. Leadership is more focused on optics than actual support, development, or long-term solutions.

The environment is covertly hostile—those who think independently, advocate for themselves, or simply stand out are micromanaged, isolated, or slowly pushed out. Leadership prefers staff who are easy to control and less likely to question anything. 

When someone is pushed out or fired, their clients are quietly split among the remaining staff. Leadership uses this to create the illusion that productivity and sales are improving, when in reality it’s just recycled business—not actual growth. This temporary boost is then used to justify unrealistic expectations and mask deeper issues like poor management and low client volume. Once the numbers dip again, the cycle repeats. It’s a revolving door that sustains the studio’s image but offers no real opportunity for advancement or stability.

This is not a supportive or sustainable place to grow a career—financially or professionally.

I moved to Colorado from out of state and got a job with Waxing The City as an Esthetician, or as they call it "Cerologist". Means waxing specialist. They have seriously THE BEST training you could ask for. I had already been trained and had much experience with waxing when I started but I still went through the very in depth and thorough training program. The educators are very knowledgeable and Waxing The City sets their employees up to SUCCEED. They do all the marketing and scheduling. They provide clients and supplies. And the environment is great to work in. All of the management and the owners that I met all had great attitudes and seemed to really CARE about the employees. I was only working part time and yet I still qualified for benefits! (Unheard of in the spa world so yay! ) The compensation is fair, and if you rebook your clients and build up your schedule you can make A LOT of money. Waxing The City doesn't accept tips from their customers, but it's actually not a bad thing for the employees because then the client is more likely to return or refer a friend. Waxing The City was one of my favorite employers and I was so happy to have worked there. Unfortunately my personal life and unexpected issues lead me to resign, however, I would recommend any of my friends or family to apply and work with Waxing The City. They are franchising and only growing so there is potential for a lot of growth! Doesn't matter if you are fresh out of school or an experienced Esthetician... you will get the training and be set up for success by the training and management team at Waxing The City.

Waxing the city of Cary/Wilmington was by far the absolute worst experience I’ve ever had working in the beauty industry. The owner along with management will gaslight you, management will/can be very disrespectful to you in front of other employees. Unfortunately they favor employees who don’t speak up about basic needs within the workplace. This company has had more than several estheticians leave due to the lack of respect in the workplace from the owner and manager. The average turnaround for employees here is less than 6 months for a reason. 
- The contract they have you sign before working there is filled with highly unreasonable terms that basically traps you in the position. If you choose to leave before the minimum required commitment *One Year* you’ll be forced to pay back a very large fee (over a thousand dollars) for “training”. This fee varied greatly between employees along with what’s included in that training. I highly recommended speaking with an attorney before accepting ANY offers with this location or any location under their ownership. Never in ANY of my job experiences have I experienced as much emotional and financial distress as I did in this position. 
- Compensation is NOT what is advertised by the business. This business sorely needs diversity and ethics training on every level. Management favors personal friends and has no boundaries when it comes to professional relationships with employees. 


This was probably one of most enjoyable jobs by far until you really got to see people true color. We were sent to training for a week which we learned a lot, the training in Minnesota was phenomenal. The environment was very chill and relaxed. We listened to good music everyone pretty much got along with one another. The manager had no management experience whatsoever, she had everyone else doing her job, she also was trying to be the cool manager then things got weird when she would say how much she hates her job and how much more she could be making working for herself she was definitely very negative and non confrontational when it came to everything. The hardest part about the job was probably if you got on the bad side of the manager you probably wouldn't have a job the next day. The manager and the owners were very unprofessional when it came to firing employees. They would literally not give you a heads up they would target the employee by calling them in for meetings then taking them off the schedule in secrecy and fire them at the end of the shift mind you during all meetings they talk you into thinking that everything is fine and that they are willing to help you become a better employee. The manager would go on to gossip about how she wants to fire so and so. The only enjoyable moments were satisfying clients and down time with other coworkers.

If I could give zero stars I would. This is the most toxic and negative work environment I have ever been in. I worked there for a year and wanted to leave way sooner but I couldn’t because one, I needed money at the time and two, they made you sign a contract with them stating that you have to stay for a year or you have to reimburse them all this money so you feel trapped. I realized my mental health was more important than any amount of money I needed so I finally left and it was the best decision I ever made. The owner/management is money hungry and they don’t care about their employees. They will over work you and stack your schedule with clients and not give you proper breaks. They will also book you with clients past closing time. They have a very fast employee turnover because everyone realizes how terrible it is. It’s impossible to get time off because they make you do it 45 days in advance and you have to find your own coverage for the days you want off but they are short staffed so everyone is already working on the days you want off so no one can ever cover for you and even if someone is off on a day you want covered they don’t want to cover it which I wouldn’t blame them because any break you can get from this place is nice. They like to control you. The owner and management would gossip and talk bad about their employees. I had the worst anxiety going into work every day. Please do yourself a favor and never work for these people. 

For the most part Waxing the City is a good place to begin your Esthetics career. However, the location I worked as a cerologist had very poor management to say the least. My clients were incredible, but we're given to me due to the constant turnover at this location. I had to spend most of the first appointment with these clients convincing them to keep their membership due to the turnover and all were blamed on management. Training consists of videos and a workbook along with a week of complimentary waxes on clients but you will never shadow a coworker due to the fact she doesn't want the new cerologist to hear anything negative about her so she keeps them separated as much as possible. It is micromanaged to the extreme and management will watch the salon video from home and call to criticize anything she believes to see as wrong. You will never feel comfortable or welcomed or like you are part of a team. Ironically, management will talk about boosting morale when if she would trust her cerologists and studio coordinator to do their job there would be no problems and the studio would run smooth and employees would be happy to be at work. The studio is clean and a nice place to work, pay isn't bad and the clients are fantastic. The only negative about this location is the management and training, however I believe if management was different training would be better as well.

If you are expecienced.....RUN! If your inexperienced RUN like fire is on you!  Don't even waste your time with this place unless your desperate, I MEAN DESPERATE for a job. Management has no clue of what the they're doing. Plus would mess over you in a heart beat if new employees get hired regardless of what you negotiated with them upon hiring.  Don't let a client not like your technique or think your new, the owners belittle you until you   and not allow you to take clients and let their family or a more trained techician take over all your clients. Youll have to wax the owners until they feel your capable....and they dont have a clue. Training is 5 days in Denver....unpaid.  And now you will probably be forced to sign a contract if you do get hired to be stuck there for 2 yrs and you'll have to pay them back for horrible  hotel conditions and over priced flights because they are too lazy to purchase them in appropriate time.  If you choose to leave before 6 months..at that point you have to pay 50% back. They'll set up rules that they will never follow and reprimand you for not keeping up when there was never any communication about changes. The culture at corporate in Denver is amazing and superb....Houston and Sugarland are franchise owners...RUN FROM THIS PLACE! Not worth the headache or horrible pay...

What is the best part of working at the company?
This is a good company to work for. Everything seems fair and as long as you can perform Brazilians and any and all hair removal using hard and soft wax you will thrive at this job. You will most likely be busy all the time. So you need to be on point with time management. It is a huge requirement at this job. It’s nice to be so busy so quickly and this company can make that happen.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The most stressful part about working for this company is probably time management for me. It can get very fast paced very quickly. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment is nice. There is usually a lot of employees here. You will be working with several estheticians. Everyone needs to work together. If you stay focused on work, you can’t mess up. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A typical day would be working an 8 hour shift and staying steadily busy the entire time. Most days you will be busy. There are not a lot of days where you don’t have any clients. Also, it pays to be comfortable waxing men’s brazillian areas. There are a lot of men that come here to get Brazilians performed. It will pay to do all clients and to maintain professional. It will help you professionally and financially.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Waxing specialist 84 salaries reported	$25.42 per hour
Studio manager 19 salaries reported	$17.11 per hour
Esthetician 47 salaries reported	$28.99 per hour
General manager 1 salary reported	$21.50 per hour
Salon manager 4 salaries reported	$63,125 per year

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